These soft-baked Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies are slightly chewy, a bit cakey, and full of warm pumpkin spices with creamy chocolate chips. An easy, delicious fall treat!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies are a seasonal favorite. The combination of pumpkin, warm spices, and chocolate makes these cookies moist and irresistible.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
These cookies can be baked to lean more cakey or more chewy, depending on technique and timing.
Cakey cookies usually use oil and whole eggs and are baked right away for a taller, more cake-like texture. My mom’s cakey pumpkin chocolate chip cookie is a classic example.
Chewy cookies are trickier because pumpkin and eggs both encourage a cake-like rise. To increase chewiness you can use butter, reduce or omit eggs, and chill the dough. This recipe balances both approaches for a soft, moist cookie with a slight cake crumb — a combination many will enjoy.
Cakey or Chewy?
I tested this recipe twice. When the dough was chilled for an hour the cookies spread and baked into the soft, slightly chewy cookies shown in the photos. When baked immediately without chilling they rose more and produced a cakier result.
Think of it like cake batter: baking right away allows leavening to act fully, producing more rise. Chilling delays that reaction, reducing the rise during baking and giving a denser, chewier texture.
If you prefer cakier cookies, bake the dough right away. For softer, chewier cookies, chill the dough before baking.
Chilling the Dough
Chilling the dough cools the fat and slows the leavening action. Because the dough starts colder, it takes longer to expand in the oven, which reduces spread and rise and yields a chewier, denser cookie. I leave the baking soda in this recipe because it contributes to the soft texture; skipping it will change the final crumb. Feel free to experiment, but the recommended method below will produce reliably soft, slightly chewy cookies.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, (1 stick) melted
- ½ cup (100 g) brown sugar, gently packed
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 6 Tbsp pumpkin purée
- 1 large egg yolk, (discard whites, or save for another recipe)
- 1 ½ cups (180 g) all-purpose flour, (Stir, spoon into cup, and level off.)
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground allspice
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- ⅛ tsp ground cloves
- ⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 cup (170 g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
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In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the melted butter with the brown and granulated sugars. Add the vanilla, pumpkin purée, and egg yolk. Mix until just combined, scraping the bowl as needed.
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In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until incorporated.
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Fold in most of the chocolate chips, reserving about 1/3 cup if you’d like to press extra chips onto the tops. Cover and chill the dough in the refrigerator for 1 hour for a chewier texture.
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Scoop the dough into balls and gently roll them in your hands. Place on a prepared baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat, leaving space between cookies. Press reserved chocolate chips onto the tops if desired. (A #40 cookie scoop yields about 1 3/4 tablespoons per cookie.)
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Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 7–9 minutes. Do not overbake—cookies will set as they cool. Let cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to one week.
Notes
You can substitute 2 1/2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice for the individual spices (cinnamon, allspice, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg).
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